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Any medicines that don't require prescriptions are OTC, meaning they're sold "over the counter." Pharmaceutical companies have been hit with liability lawsuits over products, including OTC medicines, but if you sell them retail, you can be at risk too. Staying informed about state and federal laws and any recalls or controversies with particular drugs will help you protect yourself.

Expiration Date

OTC drugs that pass their expiration date may be ineffective or even toxic. If you yank such products off the shelf when their time has come, that should protect you from liability for selling expired medicine. If they stay on the shelves and customers buy them, your store could potentially be liable for whatever happens to the buyer. Different states have different rules on date-stamping products and different procedures for what to do once the date passes. Follow your state regulations to protect yourself from lawsuits.

Product Recalls

OTC drugs can have side effects. Sometimes a pharmaceutical firm or government regulators discover a risk and order a recall. Other recalls happen when it turns out a batch of a particular OTC product was defective. Whenever a recall is initiated, the Federal Drug Administration will notify your store's pharmacy. Pay close attention to announcements and remove any products covered by the recall. Failure to act sets your store up for a lawsuit if a customer has a bad reaction to a drug that should have been recalled.

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Drug Abuse

Just because your store sells drugs without a prescription doesn't mean anyone can buy them. All sorts of OTC drugs have ingredients that a buyer can use to get high or to manufacture an illegal drug, which is why state and federal laws regulate the sale of some OTC drugs. In Texas, for example, you can only sell medicines containing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine if your store has a licensed pharmacy or you obtain a certificate of authority from the state. If you don't follow these laws, you're in trouble.

Advertising

You're not responsible for the drug companies' advertising. If you advertise any of the products in your store, however, you're liable for the truth of whatever you say. For example, if you advertise a particular OTC drug as good for preventing colds, the Federal Trade Commission may ask you to prove your case. If you don't have evidence the drug prevents colds, the government can fine you. Even if you only hint that the drug can prevent colds, that may be enough to make you liable.

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About the Author

A graduate of Oberlin College, Fraser Sherman began writing in 1981. Since then he's researched and written newspaper and magazine stories on city government, court cases, business, real estate and finance, the uses of new technologies and film history. Sherman has worked for more than a decade as a newspaper reporter, and his magazine articles have been published in "Newsweek," "Air & Space," "Backpacker" and "Boys' Life." Sherman is also the author of three film reference books, with a fourth currently under way.